A graduate of the University of Louisville's Dental school and a Trinity High School graduate were found dead in the Chicago suburbs last week in what police believe to be a possible murder-suicide.

Claire Elizabeth VanLandingham, 27, was found dead from multiple gunshot wounds in the parking lot of a Dunkin Doughnuts in Lake Forest, Illinois. Ryan Zike, 33, was also found dead from a single gunshot wound to the head, Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper said in a press release.

Cooper said Zike’s wound was possibly self-inflicted, but the investigation was not complete. Initially, authorities said the shooting “may have been related to a domestic dispute between the two deceased individuals,” Lake Forest Police said in a release.

VanLandingham and Zike had been in a relationship since March of 2017, according to Facebook profiles associated with them. A statement from the Lake Forest Police department said the couple split up around "late September/early October 2017."

Before coming to Louisville for dental school, VanLandingham graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington and joined the United States Navy, according to University of Louisville spokeswoman Julie Heflin. She was born in Terre Haute, Indiana and lived most of her life in Kansas.

She was the community service representative for her dental class and was the vice-president of Association of American Women in Dentistry at Louisville, Heflin said. She was also involved with Louisville's Hispanic Student Dental Association and represented the School of Dentistry in the 2016 Poland Exchange Student Program.

She graduated in May of 2017 and was stationed in active duty service at Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago, where she provided dental care for recruits, Naval spokeswoman Jayna Legg told Courier Journal.

"The loss of such a vibrant and caring oral health care provider and Navy Dental Corps lieutenant is devastating to the school, dental profession and countless communities who knew her," a statement from the University of Louisville's School of Dentistry said.

Ryan Zike was born in Tyler, Texas but lived in Louisville, Kentucky, according to his Facebook profile. The 33-year-old graduated from Trinity High School in 2002.

Zike went on to major in Natural Resources and Outdoor Education from Eastern Kentucky University in 2009, according to a press release from the Park District of Highland Park in September of 2017.

Elizabeth Gogola, a spokeswoman for the Park District of Highland Park, told Courier Journal that Zike had been a naturalist at one of their facilities in Highland Park, Illinois starting in September of 2017.

But a month later, around the time of their seperation, Gogola said he "voluntarily resigned and gave no reason for his departure." He was in good standing with his employer.

Prior to moving to Highland Park in September, Zike served as Recreation Supervisor in Jefferson Memorial Forest in Louisville for seven years.

Maxwell Mitchell, a friend of VanLandingham's who lives in Louisville, was sad to hear the news.

"I'll miss her smiling face," Mitchell said. "She was overwhelmingly optimistic. She just had this burst for life."